Udanavarga 1.45-47

1.45

法句譬喻經多聞品第三

Udānavarga Chapter 3: Broad Learning

Once on a time in Śrāvastī there was a certain housewife, poor though she was, who had no religious principle, and was without faith. Buddha seeing her condition was moved with pity. He saw that, whenever his followers went begging through the city, they met with nothing but abuse at the door of this woman's house. On a Shaman expostulating with her, on the ground that he only sought alms as a religious duty, she said, “If you were dying I would give you nothing, much less now that you are hale and well.” On this the Shaman, standing before her, assumed the condition of one who was really dead. The various functions of his body ceased, and from his mouth and nose crept in and out the hateful insects that accompany death. On seeing this ghastly sight, the woman fell down in a swoon, and so remained. Meanwhile the Shaman, by his spiritual power, transported himself thence a few lis, and, sitting beneath a tree, composed himself to contemplation. Meantime the husband of the woman returning, and finding his wife in the condition related, inquired the reason of it, on which she replied that she had been frightened by a rascally Shaman. On this the husband in a rage seized his bow and his sword, and set out to pursue and avenge himself on the mendicant. Coming to where he was, the Shaman, by his spiritual power, surrounded himself with a wall, through which there were gates of approach, but all were closed. The incensed husband, being unable to get at the mendicant, asked him to open the gates; on which he replied, “Lay aside your bow and your sword and you may enter.” On this the man thought, “Even if I leave my weapons behind me I shall be able to maul him with my fists.” On this he put down his bow and sword, and asked again for admission. But the Shaman said, “The gate cannot be opened, for the bow and the sword which you must lay aside are not those weapons you carried in your hand, but the enmity and malice that fill your heart; lay these aside and you may enter.” On this the man, struck with the conviction of his sin, both he and his wife repented of their evil designs and became disciples—on which occasion the enlightened follower of Buddha (man of Bōdhi, or religious man) added these words, and said—

1.46

昔舍衛國有一貧家，夫婦慳惡不信道德，佛愍其愚，現為貧凡沙門詣門分衛。時夫不在，其婦罵詈無有道理。沙門語曰：「吾為道士乞匃自居，不惡罵詈，唯望一食耳。」主人婦曰：「若汝立死食尚叵得，況今平健欲望我食？但稽留時節，不如早去。」於是沙門住立其前，戴眼抒氣便現死相，身體膖脹鼻口蟲出，腹潰腸爛不淨流漫。其婦見此恐怖失聲，棄而捨走。於是道人忽然捨去，去舍數里坐樹下息。其夫來歸道中見婦，怪其驚怖。其婦語夫：「有一沙門見怖如此。」夫大瞋怒，問為所在？婦曰：「已去，想亦未遠。」夫即執弓帶刀，尋迹往逐，張弓拔刀奔走直前欲斫道人。道人即化作琉璃小城以自圍遶，其人繞城數匝不能得入，即問道人：「何不開門？」道人曰：「欲使開門，棄汝弓刀。」其人自念：「當隨其語，若當得入手拳加之。」尋棄弓刀。門故不開，復語道人：「已棄弓刀，門何不開？」道人曰：「吾使汝棄心中惡意弓刀耳，非謂手中弓刀也。」於是其人心驚體悸：「道人神聖乃知我心。」即便叩頭悔過，稽首道人曰：「我有弊妻不識真人，使我興惡，願小垂慈莫便見捨，今欲將來勸令修道。」即起還歸。其妻問曰：「沙門所在？」其夫具說神變之德，「今者在彼，卿宜自往改悔滅罪。」於是夫妻至道人所，五體悔過願為弟子，長跪問曰：「道人神變聖達乃爾，有琉璃城堅固難踰，志明意定，永無憂患，行何道德致此神妙？」道人答曰：「吾博學無厭奉法不懈，精進持戒慧不放逸，緣是得道自致泥洹。」

Formerly, in the state of Śrāvastī, there was an impoverished household. The husband and wife were stingy, wicked, and did not believe in the Dao and virtue. The Buddha took pity on their foolishness and manifested himself as an ordinary, poor śramaṇa, approaching their door for alms. At that time, the husband was not at home, and his wife reviled him unreasonably. The śramaṇa said to her: "I am a practitioner of the Way, sustaining myself by begging. I bear no ill will towards revilement; I only hope for a single meal." The mistress of the house said: "Even if you were to drop dead where you stand, you still would not get any food, not to mention now when you are healthy and sound, hoping for my food! You are merely wasting time; you had better leave early." Thereupon, the śramaṇa stood before her, rolled back his eyes, gasped for breath, and immediately manifested the signs of death: his body swelled up, worms came forth from his nose and mouth, his belly burst open, his entrails rotted, and impurities flowed everywhere. When the wife saw this, she cried out in terror and fled, leaving him behind. Then the man of the Way vanished and departed, stopping several li away from the house to rest under a tree. When her husband returned, he met his wife on the road and wondered at her fright. His wife told her husband: "There was a śramaṇa who frightened me like this." The husband was greatly enraged and asked where he was. The wife said: "He has already left; I suppose he is not yet far." The husband immediately took up his bow, strapped on his sword, and went in pursuit following the tracks. Drawing his bow and unsheathing his sword, he rushed straight ahead, wishing to strike down the man of the Way. The man of the Way immediately transformed into a small city of beryl to surround himself. The man circled the city several times but could not get in, and so he asked the man of the Way: "Why do you not open the gate?" The man of the Way said: "If you want me to open the gate, discard your bow and sword." The man thought to himself: "I should comply with his words; if I can manage to get in, I will strike him with my fists." He immediately threw away his bow and sword. Yet the gate still did not open. He said again to the man of the Way: "I have already discarded my bow and sword; why does the gate not open?" The man of the Way said: "I had you discard the bow and sword of the evil intentions in your mind, not the bow and sword in your hands." Thereupon, the man's heart was shaken and his body trembled: "The man of the Way is holy and divine, for he knows my mind!" He immediately knocked his head and repented of his error, bowing his head to the man of the Way and saying: "I have a base wife who did not recognise a true man, causing me to give rise to evil. I pray you show a little compassion and do not abandon me; I now wish to bring her here to exhort her to cultivate the Way." He immediately got up and returned home. His wife asked him: "Where is the śramaṇa?" Her husband recounted in full his divine, transformative virtues: "He is over there now; you should go yourself to repent and eliminate your transgressions." Thereupon, husband and wife went to the place of the man of the Way, prostrated themselves in repentance, and wished to become his disciples. Kneeling long, they asked: "The holy reach of the divine transformations of the man of the Way is like this: there is a beryl city, firm and hard to overcome; your will is bright, your mind settled, and you are forever free from sorrow and affliction. What Dao and virtue did you practice to attain such divine wonder?" The man of the Way answered: "I learned extensively without satiation, upheld the Dharma without negligence, vigorously maintained the precepts and wisdom without heedlessness; by reason of this I attained the Way and reached nirvāṇa myself."

1.47

於是道人因說偈言：

Thereupon, the man of the Way spoke verses, saying: